Of Time Shifts and Timelords
by TeaPotts
Summary: The doctor appears at just the right moment to save Claudia Brown from being erased from time. She must deal with the consequences of no longer existing and no longer being allowed in her own timeline, until The Doctor assures her of one safe point in time where she can safely see him - Nick Cutter.


Claudia held her breath as Nick stepped through the anomaly, she just had the weirdest feeling that something was going to go horribly wrong. Then time seemed to just stand still, she heard an odd sound in the distance and she slowly turned towards it. Nobody else was moving. A blue box came into view, an old police box to be exact. What the hell was going on? Then a man in a long brown coat stepped out. He looked a bit confused, then his eyes stopped on the anomaly. They grew wide and practically lit up as an excited smile spread across his face. Claudia furrowed her eyebrows and stepped towards the man.

"Who the bloody hell are you?" she huffed.

"Ohh me? I'm The Doctor!" He grinned down at her, then added charmingly, "Who are you?"

"Claudia Brown."

"Then I am right on time." He whispered as he looked from her to the anomaly, excitement still etched on his face. "My TARDIS picked up the frequency of your anomaly. And oh, you guys are brilliant, might I add! But this one…this one is different…and I am sorry, Claudia Brown…I am so sorry…but it's time for you to go."

"Excuse me?" She scoffed, a confused look crossing her face.

"Your time here is up. You'll be erased from existence in mere minutes."

"What are you -" she started, then she took a step back and really looked at the man. Under the excitement she could see a pained look, it was there in his eyes, and she could tell he was being serious. "Now…I've seen some pretty strange stuff…and I'm willing to believe just about _anything_ at this point…but this -" she gestured at the frozen scene around her and at the still flickering anomaly. "I don't understand…what do you mean?"

"Through that anomaly, right now, Professor Nick Cutter is unknowingly changing time, changing history…and sadly, you don't exist in this new world." He looked her directly in the eyes as he said it, even though it killed him to see her fear. It shouldn't be happening, people really shouldn't be tampering with time…yet, he knew it had to happen, it was always meant to happen, she was always meant to become Jenny Lewis.

"Luckily for you…I can help. There's enough power in the TARDIS to keep you here. You'll still be dead to this world, to these people, and a woman named Jennifer Lewis will still take your life but…I can keep you, Claudia Brown, alive…if you'd like." He just couldn't let her die, she had so much life left to live, and he knew he could help her, so long as she got in the TARDIS soon. Within the next minute actually. He extended his hand to her and he could see her questioning whether she should take it or not.

"But who _are_ you…?" she asked as her hand hesitated, inches from his.

"I told you. I am the Doctor. And you can trust me."

_10…9…8…7…come on, Claudia…3…2…YES!_

He pulled her into the TARDIS as she took his hand, and just in time too. As the doors closed he could feel the surge of energy that came from time shifting, it seemed to shake everything around them and they found themselves falling to the TARDIS floor. He caught her in his arms and held her close while the world around them began to settle once more. He smiled as she slowly pulled away and pulled herself up using the console as support.

"Congratulations, you just survived a time shift." He grinned, jumping to his own feet.

"So what…what does that mean? Am I allowed out? Am I…what was her name…Jennifer Lewis? Am I her now?"

"No, you're still very much Claudia Brown. Jenny is out there, and she looks just like you - you could be twins! But no, you are not allowed out there. Not now…not yet."

"So…I'm stuck inside your blue box?"

"Hey! She's more than just a blue box! Have you taken a look around?" He gestured widely around the room, throwing his arms up dramatically. "She's a ship!"

Claudia looked around now, she hadn't had quite a good opportunity to before as she had literally been whisked in and thrown to the floor in seconds, but now she could see and admire the world around her. She tried to hide her impression as she met the Doctor's eyes again, "Yeah…okay…it's a ship. Box, ship, same thing! Still doesn't answer my question!" She said crossing her arms and facing him again.

"Yes, you are stuck inside my box. But have I mentioned that it travels in space?" he asked raising his eyebrow, "Or perhaps that it travels in time?"

"Is…is that Nick?" Claudia asked, worry filling her voice as she heard the sound of a man yelling her name outside. "Can he see us?"

"No…he can't. I've concealed the TARDIS."

She looked down at her feet as she heard him desperately call out for her. The Doctor took a step towards her, he gently placed his hand on her shoulder. "He'll be alright soon. I promise."

"Why can't I go see him? Why am I stuck in here, Doctor?"

"Because you don't exist out there anymore. If you step out, time will crash. You'll practically end the universe."

"If I don't exist than how does he remember me?" she cried.

"He was in another time when we shifted, that's why. He has all his previous memories, instead of the new ones Nick Cutter would have had he not stepped through the anomaly. Then again…had he not stepped through the anomaly, he would have never changed time. Except…he needed to and I had no place to interfere. I merely came to watch the miracle happen." He rambled on, but when he felt her fall against him, sobbing her eyes out, he gently wrapped his arms around her and whispered, "I am so sorry."

"Why did you bother to save me, Doctor?" Claudia asked later that night while they sat under the stars of a foreign planet.

"Because you're worth saving," he answered simply, turning his attention to her.

"But I'm not meant to exist! You told me that Jenny was always meant to exist! I don't understand!"

"You're meant to exist to some people."

"What is up with you and your cryptic messages?" She sighed, looking down at the grass and letting her finger twirl around a blade.

"Perhaps you'll understand one day, why you, Claudia Brown, deserve to exist." He paused briefly before adding, "Everybody realizes one day."

She didn't say anything after that, just lied back in the blue-green grass and looked up at the stars once more.

After a few moments of silence, she turned to him again. "You told me it travels in time too…"

"It does, yes. Any time, any place…anywhere in particular you'd like to go?"

"Is there any way I could ever see him again?" She asked, tears brimming in her eyes.

The Doctor sighed and he thought about it for awhile. Then he smiled over at her, as he pinpointed in his mind a safe moment in time. "Of course you can."

"Take me there. Please?"

He nodded and immediately stood to his feet, offering a hand to her. She took it, a hesitant smile threatening to break through completely.

"All of time and space…and you just want to see the man who means the most to you."

She wondered if he was judging her, judging her for wanting nothing more than to see him again and let him know that she was okay, but the tone of his voice said otherwise and as if he was reading her mind, he added, "I love it. I absolutely love it! Wish I could do the same…" He trailed off, and for a brief moment he looked sad, more sad than Claudia had ever seen anybody look before, but before she could say anything, he was smiling again and hurriedly pushing buttons on the console. Next thing she knew, he was holding onto a lever grinning widely at her, "You ready?"

She nodded and he pulled down on the lever; though she couldn't feel the TARDIS moving, she grabbed onto the nearest pillar for support. Standing around while moving trough time and space just felt off to her. Only mere seconds had passed before he was rushing over to the TARDIS door, gesturing her over.

"It's been a year since you've left. Stephen Hart gave his life to save Nick's just weeks ago. A very weak, and undetected anomaly is allowing temporary access that my TARDIS can…" he stopped when he saw the anxious look on her face, "Oh… just forget it! You don't care! Just know it's completely safe for you to step out of this box thanks to…wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff, alright?"

Claudia smiled up at him, letting a soft laugh escape her lips, happy he'd decided to cut it short.

"But, if you don't mind, I'll be coming along as well. Don't need anything bad happening on my watch! It…it happens a lot," he confessed, rubbing his hand through the back of his hair.

"Hmm…you'll probably get along with Nick just fine then. Trouble just loves to follow that man around." A small smile crossed her lips as she rolled her eyes, remembering all the trouble he'd dragged her into.

The Doctor smiled back and then he finally threw open the doors of the TARDIS. It looked just like any other day in England, not at all like the unusual day it had turned out to be for Claudia so far.

"It's been a year you say?" she asked and the Doctor nodded, "Yet it's only been hours for me."

"Yeah, that's how time travel usually works," he said nodding his head again. "After you!"

She stepped outside the TARDIS, took a few steps away from it before turning back to look at it again. Just a blue box, and yet…it wasn't. She shook her head in disbelief, then turned her attention to the building before her.

"We're right outside of CMU. He…he still works there?"

"No, he works in the ARC now a days. But he likes to sit in CMU's library during his time off. Sometimes we all just need a familiar place to return to, to clear our heads."

Claudia nodded, then she turned to him confused. "The ark?"

The Doctor couldn't help but chuckle, "The ARC. The Anomaly Research Centre. He wouldn't remember it, but the ARC was his idea. A brilliant idea too. You should see the technology. Not bad at all, and Connor Temple built majority of it."

"Connor?" She asked, shocked and just barely holding back a laugh. He was a smart kid, but the Connor she remembered could barely tie his shoes sometimes, never the less build the technology for half a building.

"Yeah, the kid's a genius. Always had it in him, even the Connor you knew. Lucky for him, all the time shift did was get him to that advanced state of mind. Would have taken your Connor a little while, but he would have eventually gotten there, no doubt about it."

"So…he's still the same?"

"Oh yeah. So's Abby. And Lester. Oh, though he's no longer a Sir. Poor guy, lost his knighthood."

Claudia held back another laugh, then she looked towards CMU again.

"And Nick's doing alright too."

"Visiting him…it's not going to drive him crazy, is it?" She asked, worry filling her voice once more.

"No…on the contrary, he'll never mention it, but it'll be a motivation for him to keep on living, to keep on trying to solve the anomalies. I promise. This visit will do only good for him. Here…give him this when you see him." The Doctor pulled a photo from his pocket, or rather, half a photo that had been pieced back together.

Her heart fluttered when she saw it, she and Nick had taken that photo together on their first attempt at a date. With a shaking hand, she took it, and very briefly held it close. "Where did you get this?"

"I picked it up before I came for you. I thought he might like it back. Couldn't find his pieces…must have scattered in the wind. But your pieces weren't far from where he dropped them."

She smiled down at the photo, then tucked it into her own pocket. "I suppose…I should go in now?"

"Yeah. If you don't mind, I'm going to hang around here. Sit on a bench…or something."

She nodded and after a moment, headed towards the front doors. But he knew she wouldn't get very far. He could see it in her eyes, when she first asked about her visit and if it'd drive him crazy. She didn't believe him that it'd do him good. She knew Nick, and she knew him all too well; she couldn't just believe he'd be okay with her walking through the doors after being erased from time. And so, it didn't surprise him one bit when she turned back around, shaking her head with tears in her eyes.

"I can't do it. I can't do this to him, Doctor. I'm dead to him. I don't exist. I can't just walk through those doors like it's no big deal!"

The Doctor simply nodded, and very gently he asked, "Do you want me to bring him to you instead?"

Looking into his eyes she could see how much he genuinely meant it, and she could see that he would if she asked. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she nodded.

"Go back to the TARDIS. Hold onto that photo, we'll be back soon," he smiled.

He waited till he saw her at the TARDIS door, then he began walking towards the doors of CMU. At the front he pulled out his psychic paper, which simply told the security he was there for free use of the library. Once signed in under the name John Smith, he headed down the halls, and after getting momentarily lost, found his way to the library. He saw Cutter sitting at a table in the back, papers sprawled out in front of him, though he wasn't actually paying attention to them, more so using them as an excuse to look busy. The Doctor strolled over and pulled out the chair directly in front of him, mumbling something about there being no where else to sit. Cutter looked up and looked around the room, spotting several empty chairs before focusing on The Doctor's face.

"That's a lie. What do you want?"

"Professor Nick Cutter, right?"

"Yeah…that's me. Who are you?"

"My name's not important right now. What _is_ important is that I know who you are, and I know what you do…and if I'm not mistaken, there is an anomaly outside right now that your detector did not pick up, nor did Connor's or the ARC's. So, you better do something about that."

Cutter stared at the man, wide eyed and completely confused, but he stood up immediately, not daring to take the man's words as a joke. No, he seemed too serious for that.

"Show me."

The Doctor stood up and casually headed for the door, Cutter walking just a step behind him.

"I almost didn't believe it. I didn't think it was actually true! Completely blew my mind! Oh but don't worry, as far as I could tell, nothing came through!"

Cutter's eyebrows furrowed wondering how this man could know so much about the anomalies but, he did not ask any questions, he just continued to follow the man down the halls and out the door.

"It was right over there, by the blue box! I swear!" The Doctor said, running towards the TARDIS.

Cutter ran closely behind, examining the area, scanning it for any sign of an anomaly.

"Alright now, there's no anomaly here, who the bloody hell are -" he started, but then he saw the man open the Police Box.

"Wouldn't be the first time I heard that today! Call me The Doctor!" he called from somewhere inside. "You coming in? I think I have something you'd love to see!"

Cutter stepped aboard the TARDIS, and he would have been completely and totally amazed with the technology around him, had his very first view not been her.

"Claudia. Claudia Brown." His voice was choked up a bit as he looked at her, and he knew it was her, there was no doubt in his mind.

"Ahh, so you've met?" The Doctor asked with an all knowing smile.

"How…"? He asked, looking from Claudia to the man who called himself The Doctor.

"I'm a Timelord. The last of the Timelords. And I saved her that fateful day she was erased from time."

He stepped towards her, reaching his hand out to touch her cheek. When his skin met hers, he felt a chill run down his spine. She was really there, she was really real, and she was really Claudia.

"He asked me where I wanted to go…" She started, but she never finished, she was immediately stopped by Cutter's lips crashing into her own.

When he finally pulled away from her she could see tears forming in his eyes. "You can't stay though, can you?"

"You're a wise man, Nick," The Doctor said, leaning against the nearest pillar. "This is a safe point in time. Quite possibly the only. This is the only time I can risk bringing her to you, and I can't possibly let her stay. Unless I wanted to destroy time…which, ironically, really isn't what a Timelord should do." He paused to let Cutter take the news in then, just above a whisper, he added, "But she'll be safe with me. I promise."

Claudia pulled the picture from her pocket then, she took his hand in hers and she carefully placed it in his palm. "He recovered this for you. I think he knew all along we would meet. So, promise me you won't rip it again?"

He glanced down at the photo she had slipped into his hand and the tears began to fall from his eyes. He looked up at her again and through his tears he smiled, "Promise."

She threw her arms around him, and she whispered in his ear the words she had struggled to say before, the words she had tried so hard to express with her final kiss. "I love you, Nick."

"Oh, yes, and you know…" he stopped mid sentence and sighed, he knew he'd have to get over himself and say it properly, especially if this was his last chance to. "I love you too," he finally whispered back.


End file.
